Budget cuts are forcing Haywood County Schools to lay off 10 teachers and staff at the end of this school year.

While most people are mourning the coming of another Monday, Rob Russell will be rejoicing as he returns to his job at Western Carolina University Feb. 15. 

After a former employee won a lawsuit claiming that Western Carolina University had fired him without cause, the university is appealing the decision.

In his 38 years at the helm of Haywood Vocational Opportunities, George Marshall has seen his share of change in the regulations and trends surrounding the intersection of worlds in which HVO deals. 

HVO, a not-for-profit social enterprise that produces medical supplies, is Haywood County’s fifth largest employer and the nation’s largest producer of custom medical drapes.

A former Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputy pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing justice following an Oct. 25 party that involved underage drinking and led to charges of statutory rape against two other men.

A Jackson County detention officer was fired this summer after firing a Taser gun on a coworker.

Commissioner Kirk Kirkpatrick remembers many Haywood County budget hearings in which the public was absent from the process, but that was not the case this year.

Haywood County commissioners say a property tax increase is needed to dig the county out of a recession-era backlog.

Western Carolina University has held steady on its rate of tenured and tenure-track professors over the last decade, keeping numbers of permanent faculty that far outstrip the national average.

In its quest to cut the fat ahead of the looming county revaluation, Macon County is turning to its retirement policies. Commissioners recently voted unanimously on a pair of personnel policy changes that will tighten up post-retirement health benefits for county employees.